Two questions about the Author Field

copyrite · 02-11-2012, 11:06 AM

#1:
How would I go about batch converting multiple author fields?

i.e.,
from
J. R. R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis
Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble
to
J. R. R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis
Fred Flintstone; Barney Rubble

(exchanging the & for a semi-colon)

#2:
How can I batch convert multiple author fields
from
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Lewis, C.S.
etc

to
J. R. R. Tolkien
C.S. Lewis

Thanks!

HarryT · 02-11-2012, 11:21 AM

You really don't want to convert "J. R. R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis" into "J. R. R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis". The "&" separator is the correct one to use; it tells Calibre to treat it as a list of multiple authors (ie you'll be able to find the book under both "Tolkien" and "Lewis" as authors. If you were to use a semi-colon, Calibre would treat it as a single author called "J. R. R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis".

transmitthis · 02-11-2012, 11:23 AM

For #2
You would be looking Edit Metadata in Bulk and the Search and Replace tab.

Search mode - Regular Expression have a play around with that, I'm no good Python Regexp, but someone will pop up and give you one, if you haven't already done it by then.

Or if I misunderstood what you meant by batch convert (you want to do many authors at once) you could do them individually just by Right clicking on Author Name in the Tag Browser panel on the left and choosing Rename!

kiwidude · 02-11-2012, 11:24 AM

@copyrite - do you mean how you see the authors displayed in your calibre library UI?

You should not attempt your first example - & is the character calibre users to denote multiple authors, and trying to circumvent that with a ; instead will just screw up your database.

For the second example, you can do this with the latest version of the Quality Check plugin, which has an option in the Fix menu which toggles authors between FN LN and LN, FN format.

copyrite · 02-11-2012, 11:46 AM

Ooops. A batch find and replace fixed the "& to ;" I'd already done. Thanks for the info on that.

Thanks for the plug in info... exactly what I'm looking for, for that task - and it looks like it does a lot more, too!

02-11-2012, 11:23 AM	#3
transmitthis Addict Posts: 288 Karma: 1003542 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Google Nexus 7 16GB	For #2 You would be looking Edit Metadata in Bulk and the Search and Replace tab. Search mode - Regular Expression have a play around with that, I'm no good Python Regexp, but someone will pop up and give you one, if you haven't already done it by then. Or if I misunderstood what you meant by batch convert (you want to do many authors at once) you could do them individually just by Right clicking on Author Name in the Tag Browser panel on the left and choosing Rename! Last edited by transmitthis; 02-11-2012 at 11:26 AM.

02-11-2012, 11:46 AM	#5
copyrite Wizard Posts: 1,841 Karma: 4985051 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Maryland Device: Kindle	Ooops. A batch find and replace fixed the "& to ;" I'd already done. Thanks for the info on that. Thanks for the plug in info... exactly what I'm looking for, for that task - and it looks like it does a lot more, too! Last edited by copyrite; 02-11-2012 at 12:34 PM.

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02-11-2012, 11:06 AM	#1
copyrite Wizard Posts: 1,841 Karma: 4985051 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Maryland Device: Kindle	Two questions about the Author Field #1: How would I go about batch converting multiple author fields? i.e., from J. R. R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble to J. R. R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis Fred Flintstone; Barney Rubble (exchanging the & for a semi-colon) #2: How can I batch convert multiple author fields from Tolkien, J. R. R. Lewis, C.S. etc to J. R. R. Tolkien C.S. Lewis Thanks!

02-11-2012, 11:21 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	You really don't want to convert "J. R. R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis" into "J. R. R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis". The "&" separator is the correct one to use; it tells Calibre to treat it as a list of multiple authors (ie you'll be able to find the book under both "Tolkien" and "Lewis" as authors. If you were to use a semi-colon, Calibre would treat it as a single author called "J. R. R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis".

02-11-2012, 11:24 AM	#4
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,735 Karma: 2208556 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	@copyrite - do you mean how you see the authors displayed in your calibre library UI? You should not attempt your first example - & is the character calibre users to denote multiple authors, and trying to circumvent that with a ; instead will just screw up your database. For the second example, you can do this with the latest version of the Quality Check plugin, which has an option in the Fix menu which toggles authors between FN LN and LN, FN format.

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